


Try to hear my voice

by seratonation



Series: We'll fall until we're free [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Attempted Escape, Cages, Community: hc_bingo, Gen, Hulk level violence, Protective Hulk, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seratonation/pseuds/seratonation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Bruce spent a lot of his time in the cage. They tried experimenting on him in the early stages but they gave up after the first few attempts went horribly wrong. He had tried to warn them, no matter how much control he had on the other guy, he will always come out if Bruce was in danger.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Try to hear my voice

**Author's Note:**

> For the Hurt/Comfort prompt: [cages](http://themadwritings.livejournal.com/51369.html)
> 
> Title from 'Hear Me' by Imagine Dragons. 
> 
> Bruce's side of the story.

Bruce spent a lot of his time in the cage. They tried experimenting on him in the early stages but they gave up after the first few attempts went horribly wrong. He had tried to warn them, no matter how much control he had on the other guy, he will always come out if Bruce was in danger.

They treated him well enough otherwise; they gave him regular meals, he had a mattress and blankets. They still occasionally took him out to try something new on him but that never ended well. He always woke up in his cage again.

However, they’d never changed back and forth with such frequency. It was wearing Bruce down and winding the Hulk up. He was getting restless and Bruce was finding it hard keeping him in check. Three weeks of this and Bruce finally lost control. 

It’s been a long time since he’d lost it like that, without direct provocation. When he woke up again, his head felt heavy and he was in a different cage. 

He got up and walked towards the bars. “Hey,” he called out to the guard at the end of the hallway, “why did they move me?”

The guard looked at him disdainfully. “Stronger bars,” he said, “can’t have you escaping again.”

Bruce hid his smirk behind a hand and didn't reply. There wasn’t much that could hold the other guy back. The heaviness in his head settled into a headache and he had to lie down again. The headache was still there when they came to drag him out again.

Maybe it was just the persistent throbbing in his head, or his still-heavy limbs, but they were rougher with him now than they were before.

“Upset that I broke your bars?” he asked the scientist at the bench. 

“Not at all,” he said, “just the opposite, I'm delighted. You’re giving me more material to work with.”

“Glad to be of service,” Bruce said, “so what is it this time?” 

“Well we figured out that gas is very effective-”

“Ah,” Bruce said, raising his eyebrows.

“Just figured it out did we?” The scientist smiled, not pleasantly, “I presume that if you'd been at full capacity you would have realised it sooner. No matter.” He gestured to his lackeys, “the mask.”

They placed a mask over his face, and he felt himself drifting, but as soon as the needle entered his skin the other guy reared his head. Bruce let him out. He’d be able to remember more this way and the Hulks fast metabolism will make sure whatever it is they just injected will be out of his system before it can cause too much damage. 

The Hulk broke through the restraints before the transformation was complete, the mask falling off and the syringe shattering to the ground. The scientist backed away and he reeked of fear. The Hulk swept him aside with a hand, and easily threw off the guards who tried to attack him. 

He barrelled through the corridors, smashing doors open on his way. He didn't enter any of them, and didn't attack anyone unless they came for him, until he got to one room and Bruce felt his heart clench. 

Tony was in a lab, similar to the one Bruce had been in, but he was suspended from a metal frame. The arc reactor was gone and there were wires going into the hole where it had been. 

“You came back,” Tony said, lifting his head to look at him. His voice was weak and his eyes sunken. 

The Hulk roared and tore apart the frame. He caught Tony before he fell, but before either of them could do anything, Tony collapsed, unconscious and the Hulk was quick to follow. 

***

Bruce awoke with a start. They had Tony. They had him and they took away his arc reactor and hooked him to wires and there was no way they were going to smash their way out of this. 

Days passed, weeks. He tried a few more times, but they gassed them too quickly. And even if he made it, there was no way to get Tony out of the wires without Bruce, but that would leave them vulnerable. 

He tried talking to his guards, and he’d casually ask the scientist about other forms of restraints, but it seemed that he was blocked at every turn. 

Then, one day, the alarms went off. He ran to the bars, gripping them tight, trying to stay in control. It couldn't be Tony, could it? 

“What’s going on?” he asked the guard that had come running in, keeping his gun trained on him. 

“None of your business,” the guard barked at him.

The alarms suddenly cut off. The guard hesitated, putting two fingers to his ear and then smirked at Bruce. “Looks like you’ll be getting a cell mate.”

The cell mate that was promised was shoved into the cage with him and the guard went back to his post. The man threw himself at the bars and yelled after them but it was too late, the door was closed and they were alone again. 

Bruce watched him sink to the ground and extend his leg in front of him. There was an ugly wound on his thigh, bleeding profusely. 

Bruce watched him try to stem the flow with the sleeves of his sweater and fail. He crouched down to the man’s level. 

“Take it off,” he said, “the sweater. Now give me your t-shirt, and keep this.”

He switched the sweater for the t-shirt and started to methodically rip it into ribbons, before using the purple material as bandages

“Why are you doing this?” the man asked, frowning at him. 

“I need your help,” Bruce said, “and I need you to be alive.”

“How convenient for me,” the guy said. 

“I’m Bruce,” Bruce said, giving the bandages a last pull. 

“You can call me Hawkeye.”

“Hawkeye,” Bruce said, “you’re going to help me break out.”


End file.
